After putting on yet another performance, Fu Changxun further cemented his position as nothing more than a useless beauty.
Although Swift Step vehemently objected, Zhao-jie still insisted on bringing along these two drama kings.
Xu Zhengyi, naturally, went with them as well.
That afternoon, the gloomy veteran player who stayed behind led the remaining players to investigate information about the former General.
“My ability is similar to entering dreams,” Zhao-jie explained to the four who had resolved to act—Xu Xiao had tagged along uninvited. “But it leans more toward excavating the dream owner’s deepest memories. It’s perfect for a low-information instance like this.”
“Five minutes,” she added. “We need to find clues as quickly as possible.”
The mission time limit was nine days. It was already the second day, and they only had the faintest lead.
It wasn’t enough.
Once night fell, the five of them quietly arrived at the entrance to the alley where the woman lived.
“This is the place,” Dong Zi said. “Third house on the left.”
Although they’d already scouted the area during the day, Swift Step—who was extremely suspicious of Dong Zi and Fu Changxun—still wasn’t reassured. He used his ability to slip inside at lightning speed, confirmed that there was only a single woman in the main room, then came back to signal everyone to move in.
Under cover of night, several figures vaulted over the wall and landed in the narrow courtyard.
“Is she asleep?” Zhao-jie whispered. “If she is, there’s no need to go inside. As long as we’re within ten meters, it’ll work.”
Swift Step nodded firmly. “I checked. The homeowner is already lying in bed.”
“Good. I’ll give it a try.”
Zhao-jie gathered the five of them around her. A thin thread of light emerged from her fingertips, wavering as it passed through the window and slipped into the room.
“…Dream Infiltration!”
***
Fu Changxun opened his eyes and followed his own consciousness as it drifted above the dreamscape. He wandered for quite some time before finally locating the dream’s owner.
She was smiling brightly, leaning against a table, casting coy glances at a pale-faced scholar.
This was… the woman, but younger.
She was more beautiful than she was in the instance, her voice softer and irresistibly alluring.
“Sir,” she said with a sweet smile, “why won’t you look at me? Could it be that I’m not pretty enough?”
The scholar’s face flushed red.
Too embarrassed to lift his head, he stammered, “N-no, no! Miss, you’re as beautiful as a celestial maiden. I—I wouldn’t dare be so presumptuous.”
“Then…” The woman leaned closer. “What if I allowed you to be a little presumptuous?”
The fragrance that rushed toward him and the woman’s laughter sent the scholar’s soul reeling. He stared blankly and said, “I—I… If the miss doesn’t mind, then of course I…”
Seeing how easily he took the bait, the woman instead found it rather boring.
“Forget it. It’s getting late—I should be heading back.”
Without the slightest hesitation, she abandoned the scholar and drifted away lightly, leaving him staring after her in shock.
That was where the woman’s interest lay. Those who lived by the sword were naturally different from sheltered young ladies. She never cared about chastity or reputation. Whenever she was bored, she would flirt with a few handsome men. If sparks flew, perhaps it could even turn into a fleeting affair.
The scene blurred yet remained vivid, shifting in an instant to the moment the woman returned home.
As soon as she stepped inside, she saw her younger sister holding a blade, looking distracted and absent-minded.
“Yun Qing?”
The girl didn’t hear her.
It wasn’t until the woman laughed and said, “That fool was dull as dirt. Don’t tell me you actually fell for him?” that the girl snapped back to her senses.
She didn’t refute it. Instead, she muttered, “But Yun He, you’re the one who goes out every day looking for people. What right do you have to care about who I like or don’t like…”
Yun He frowned. “How can that be the same? Your elder sister here has seen all kinds of men. Of course I know which ones are good and which aren’t. You’re only sixteen this year—what do you know?”
Yun Qing wasn’t led astray by her words in the slightest. “When you were sixteen, you weren’t much different from how you are now.”
The sisters argued back and forth. In the end, Yun Qing left, hugging her blade, while Yun He remained where she was.
Those flirtatious, expressive eyes of hers were filled with worry.
“Ah-Qing… don’t fall in too deep.”
Fu Changxun still wanted to look once more at this “Yun Qing,” but the image blurred again.
The five minutes were up.
***
Zhao-jie took a deep breath. Pulling six people—including herself—into a dream at once was an enormous drain on her abilities.
Xu Zhengyi immediately stepped in to support her, letting her lean against the wall to rest.
“The former General was called Yun Qing,” he said, looking at the others. “And the one inside just now was her elder sister?”
Dong Zi nodded. “That should be right. We were lucky—hit a key NPC on the first try.”
Zhao-jie had recovered a bit. “Yeah, thanks to you two. By the way, who was that ‘fool’ Yun Qing liked in the dream? Where do you even dig up gossip about a former General? She’s been dead for eight years already—wait. Those NPCs only said she disappeared. They never said she died. Does that mean she might still be alive?”
Dong Zi shattered her hope. “The chances are slim. Once the birds are gone, the bow is discarded; once the rabbits are dead, the dogs are cooked. If a founding General didn’t remain in a position of power, then there’s only one likely outcome.”
Zhao-jie sighed. “Yeah… I was just thinking out loud.”
The group fell silent for a moment.
“It’s the emperor,” Fu Changxun said after a brief pause. “The General’s Platform was built by the emperor. Even if he wasn’t that ‘fool,’ there’s no way he wasn’t deeply involved.”
He kept to himself the line displayed on Dong Zi’s lifetime-bound flyer: A single glance, her heart stolen by a wandering rogue – yet none are more heartless than those born to the imperial throne.
Combined with the dream they’d just seen, plus that single line, the story between the former General Yun Qing and the reigning emperor didn’t need any guessing. It was already laid bare.
Zhao-jie nodded. “That’s what I think too. We were going to look for him sooner or later anyway.”
“All in all, tonight was a good haul.”
With the instance’s background finally filled in, Swift Step was practically buzzing with excitement. “That’s great! So where do we go now?”
He was a bit too excited. His voice rose unintentionally, and in the next instant, a light flicked on inside the house.
Everyone jumped.
A woman’s shadow appeared, indistinct behind the door. “Guests are guests,” she said lightly. “Why don’t you all come in and talk?”
The players froze in place, but their gazes flickered rapidly as they communicated in silence—
What do we do, what do we do?!
We’ve been discovered—Zhao-jie, Doctor Fu, Xiao Dong, do you have any ideas?
Play it by ear…
She moved—she sat up—ahhh! Should we run?!
Swift Step already had one foot raised, just waiting for Zhao-jie to give the word so he could bolt using his ability.
Yet in the dim, uncertain moonlight, Zhao-jie caught sight of Fu Changxun’s calm profile. Her mind raced. Gritting her teeth, she made a hard decision.
“No,” she said. “We wait.”
Outside the instance, the audience watching the livestream all broke into a cold sweat for them.
[Why aren’t they running yet?! Run, damn it!]
[Huh? Why can I send bullet comments now? I’m a human and I’ve never entered the game—what’s going on? Can anyone else do it?]
[I can too! If you focus on what you want to say, it materializes up there!]
[So that’s how it works. Amazing.]
[Then why are they still standing there? The one inside is obviously a boss!]
[Not necessarily. We don’t know what they saw in the dream…]
[Low-dimensional humans are really stupid. I can’t even be bothered to explain it to them.]
[Holy shit—was that bullet comment just now posted by a higher-dimensional being? That’s terrifying. Does that mean they can see what we’re saying too?]
[Heehee, of course.]
